The Rooster Next Door

561 Views 45 Replies 7 Participants Last post by gokoroo, 16 d ago

Gibson

Discussion Starter · 1 mo ago (Edited)

Greetings to the community,

I am new to this chicken stuff, just started last year. Last year was not so good. I lost 3 meat birds to predators, two just up and passed for some reason and one got locked up by my neighbor with her chickens leaving me with only one hen, a Rhode Island.

Eventually I got my chicken back from my neighbor so I have had two over the winter. This year I have 6 meat birds and picked up two Barred Plymouth Rock and one New Hampshire Red. I will be introducing them to the flock of two, probably on Sunday (into the fenced chicken run but not entirely into the coup yet)

I do NOT want to keep my hens confined in a chicken run as I have done all winter. I have two acres for them free range on and my neighbors have about that as well.

My question/ concern is this: My neighbors husband passed away this last year and since then she is letting her 6 hens and Rooster free range and they come into my yard. I am totally fine with that but what worries me that MY hens (and the new little ones) will follow that rooster and leave my coup? I hope not, I really want them to do their thing. Seems like the Rooster might not mind but maybe the other hens would not allow it? I don't know. I am not much interested in getting a Rooster.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

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robin416

· #2 · 1 mo ago

Welcome to the forum.

There is a definite possibility that your birds will follow the others back to the neighbor's. There's a slim possibility the neighbor's birds will settle in with yours. It's going to depend on what the rooster does.

You can try giving your birds treats just before lock down. Get them trained so that they understand they've got something good waiting on them if they're home. It's pretty much what I've done with my Guineas.

Gibson

Discussion Starter · #3 · 1 mo ago

Thank's. Not what I wanted to hear, but aligns with my gut. Dang.

I suspect that if I do get a Rooster when he matures the two of them will probably battle?

robin416

· #4 · 1 mo ago

Probably. There is not an easy answer here if she doesn't keep her birds up and there's no fence between you.

I would tell you to get some Guineas but getting them to know they should run the other chickens off takes time and it has to be their idea.

dawg53

· #5 · 1 mo ago

Since the lady next door lets her birds pretty much roam where they want, why not incorporate her flock with yours, including the rooster? The rooster will take care of all of them, no problem. Provide treats as Robin mentioned just before sunset and they'll all be there. More eggs for your family....and give your neighbor a dozen eggs as well and thank her for her flock helping out.

Reactions: 1

Gibson

Discussion Starter · #6 · 1 mo ago

@dawg: Good idea, however my coup is only 8Lx4Wx6H. Not enough space for that many hens; as is it will over crowded until slaughter time. And that rooster...holy cow! That rooster is nearly as big as the Tom Turkey my other neighbor had..yes had. LOL. Have not seen it for about 6 months.

I think she is hoping predators get them. She knows we have skunks foxes and racoons around because they had lost hens too. They were always locked up before her husband passed. They even built a coup with a clear plexiglass front facing their living room...so they could watch and be entertained. Yeah, I don't think she wants the maintenance it takes. She is not very friendly, unfortunately.

I might need to build another coup for the meat birds (Freedom Rangers) so they can free range. Those little gals eat like crazy. If I lose a meat bird it will be a bummer but I don't want to lose any layers.

Reactions: 1

DeLuc

· #7 · 1 mo ago

Two acres is a lot, do they go that far? I was thinking of poultry nets to start, so they learn what's home base. I've been told that they can 'smell' which flock they belong to. But if I was a hen I would probably also follow the big rooster 😬

Reactions: 2

dawg53

· #8 · 1 mo ago

Gibson said:
@dawg: Good idea, however my coup is only 8Lx4Wx6H. Not enough space for that many hens; as is it will over crowded until slaughter time. And that rooster...holy cow! That rooster is nearly as big as the Tom Turkey my other neighbor had..yes had. LOL. Have not seen it for about 6 months.

I think she is hoping predators get them. She knows we have skunks foxes and racoons around because they had lost hens too. They were always locked up before her husband passed. They even built a coup with a clear plexiglass front facing their living room...so they could watch and be entertained. Yeah, I don't think she wants the maintenance it takes. She is not very friendly, unfortunately.

I might need to build another coup for the meat birds (Freedom Rangers) so they can free range. Those little gals eat like crazy. If I lose a meat bird it will be a bummer but I don't want to lose any layers.

Your coop sounds like one of my coops, made with 4x8 plywood, 2x4's and up on 4x4's. (8Lx4Wx4H.)
I expanded the coop out to 12' to accommodate more birds and it worked out really well. I built this coop under a carport, aka carport pen and coop. I called them the "Carport Girls" lol.

I expanded a similar coop out to 16' when I lived in Georgia. I had several other smaller coops and let the birds free range. I let them go to whatever coop they wanted back then, it worked out well.

Reactions: 2

Lillith

· #9 · 1 mo ago

They do sell electric poultry netting which is portable and fairly easy to put up. You could probably rope off an area for your chickens so the neighbors chickens don't wander onto your property. Then if you no longer need it, you can just take it down.

robin416

· #10 · 1 mo ago

I was thinking along the same lines. A temporary fence to prevent them from coming onto your property. It doesn't have to permanent, doesn't have to be the whole property. The birds won't think about going down to the end of the fence to come around. They will just stand there on the other side watching yours.

Gibson

Discussion Starter · #11 · 1 mo ago (Edited)

Perhaps I have stupid chickens. A few weeks ago they got out of fenced area and they found their way into the pasture. Perfect!. Problem is the pasture fence is 6x6 or 8x8 openings. They go through that to get to the garden and grass area which freely communicates with my neighbors yard. For two days they could not find their way back to coup even with leaving a trail of yummy grubs. I would find them nesting in the morning outside of the fenced area so I propped the bottom of the fence up so they could crawl below the fence. Installing chicken wire around my pasture is not a very attractive option. Besides, its only 4 feet high and even with clipping the wings they could probably make it over that.

@DeLuc: I don't know how far they wandered. When I let my chickens out last summer they spent 99 percent of their time in my neighbors yard. I could see my flock on my security cameras leave first thing in the morning and head over to her house, only to return in evening. Now that she has let her chickens out, her chickens spend about 50% of their time in my yard. Go figure.

@dawg53: That is what I did. It is raised on pressure treated 4x4's to about waists high. A huge swinging door opens to where I made a 4 level roost about 42" wide from 3" poplar poles. I hinged the back side so when it is cleaning time I simply tilt the roost up and tie it off to a nail with some wire. Get the ole shovel out and take care of business. Really fast and easy being waist high and everything out of the way. I installed a Coop Tender door but I had allot of problems with it. I finally ordered a new control board and have not had any problems since. It's a good product, I just got a lemon. This summer I plan on adding a shelf inside the coup to house a car battery. The cheesy battery they provide only lasts about 6- 8 months in my experience. I went through two of them before just running power to it. I think a car battery will be a much better solution. If need be, I will get a larger solar panel and a dedicated charge controller and modify the wiring off the coup tender control panel. Sorry for the ramble but maybe some else can learn.

Appreciate everyone here!

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Reactions: 1

dawg53

· #12 · 1 mo ago

I love having a coop waist high, so easy and fast to clean out on a daily basis.

The only difference is I use 2"x 2" sanded down roost running the length of the coop.

Reactions: 1

Gibson

Discussion Starter · #13 · 1 mo ago

Lucky chickens to have a coup cleaned daily. I do it about every three months, but I only have two at the moment. How many do you keep in it? I figured I would be maxed out in a 8x4 at ten but will only have 4 layers once the meat birds are in the freezer. If I recall four hens will share a nesting box.

dawg53

· #14 · 1 mo ago

The 12' long coop had 9 birds in it. It didnt really matter, they always crowded down at one end, silly hens. There was some bickering going on each evening for the best roosting spot when they went to roost for the night, but no knock down drag out fights nor blood lol.
During the hot summer, some of them DID spread out on the roost. It gets real hot here during the summer. I had two fans inside the coop.
If you install a fan inside a coop, make sure the airflow is blowing air OUT the vent. Indirect airflow will come in through the other vents. You dont want direct airflow blowing on your chickens.

I have two other coops as well. A shed coop and a bathroom sink vanity lol.

Reactions: 1

robin416

· #15 · 1 mo ago

@dawg53 don't forget to mention that your setup means your birds never had to stay up in their coops. Well, maybe during a hurricane but not for any other reason.

Reactions: 1

dawg53

· #16 · 1 mo ago

robin416 said:
@dawg53 don't forget to mention that your setup means your birds never had to stay up in their coops. Well, maybe during a hurricane but not for any other reason.

You mean lock down? They are locked up in their coop every night. Then I let them out early the next morning.
So far so good, no hurricanes...yet.
We had a two tropical storms, Francis and Jeanne in 2004 hit us in Georgia, one right after the other. I had the chickens in cages in the garage, 22 of them. Both coops survived, one tarp broke loose and that was it.

When caging chickens, think "pecking order." That's how you want to cage them, according to the pecking order.
If you dont, higher ranked birds will fight and possibly severely injure a lower ranked bird in the pecking order. I learned that real quick back then!
If a big hurricane rolls in, we're outta here, chickens included. We'll be heading to your place @robin416 LOL!

Reactions: 1

robin416

· #17 · 1 mo ago

No, I'm talking about how you have the outside pens set up so that they can be out no matter what the weather is doing. I know what you've done but most here don't. It works really well.

Reactions: 2

dawg53

· #18 · 1 mo ago

robin416 said:
No, I'm talking about how you have the outside pens set up so that they can be out no matter what the weather is doing. I know what you've done but most here don't. It works really well.

Yes. I cant let my birds free range due to hawks. The 4 pens are covered and they all have a small uncovered penned area, "sun room," so to speak.

robin416

· #19 · 1 mo ago

And they're huge, and he can drop curtains to keep driving rain out if he needs to.

Trying to get him to describe what he's done is like pulling teeth.

Reactions: 1

dawg53

· #20 · 1 mo ago

robin416 said:
And they're huge, and he can drop curtains to keep driving rain out if he needs to.

Trying to get him to describe what he's done is like pulling teeth.

Alot of work getting it the way I wanted it and there's always improvements, and ways of doing things easier, less work in the long run too. I think that about sums it up.
Ask me how to deal with rats! HAHAHAHA!

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